[CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to books for all students

Wed Dec 17 09:05:49 PST 2008

I like to read fiction that includes information about a subject or time in
history, etc  what kind of reader is that??

April
Rodriguez PREP

On 12/17/08 8:51 AM, "burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us" <burchm at lompoc.k12.ca.us>
wrote:

> Hello!
>  
> I thought I would add my $.02's worth in this discussion.  I love to read, and
> I confess that I prefer reading fiction for pleasure than non-fiction.
> However, I love reading (listening to) non-fiction as audio.  There are some
> who will say that "listening" is not reading, and I guess in the purest sense
> it is not, but I am able to listen to text that I won't sit down and read.
> The same goes for difficult fiction: I listened to _Moby Dick_ and _A Tale of
> Two Cities_ after having given up reading both of them in the conventional
> manner;had just not been able to stick with either of them.
>  
> My point though is this--I wish I could get more kids who are non-readers
> "hooked" on listening.  I think there are lots of kids who would enjoy this,
> but for whatever reason are just not willing to give it a try.  I hate to see
> so many kids who are convinced that reading holds nothing for them, when they
> don't realize that they just haven't met a method that would open up this
> world to them.
>  
> Busy thinking about things in Lompoc,
> Mary at the LHS Library
> -----calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu wrote: -----
> 
>> To: skrashen at yahoo.com
>> From: "Thomas Kaun" <tomkaun at gmail.com>
>> Sent by: calibk12-bounces at lists.sjsu.edu
>> Date: 12/16/2008 09:13PM
>> cc: calibk12 at lists.sjsu.edu
>> Subject: Re: [CALIBK12] A significant omission: access to books for all
>> students
>> 
>> The report really sounds more like a full-employment strategy for reading
>> specialists and professors of reading specialists.
>> I know we all have our professions to promote but I do believe Stephen is
>> right that the simplest solutions to our reading "problem" are the best and
>> have still not been tried.
>> This also ties into the recent thread about developing the "love of reading"
>> in our students. I am one of those who is more intrigued by non-fiction
>> (verity--weird!) than fiction reading. So what! In some ways it's like I carp
>> about English teachers at the high school level who teach as though all kids
>> were going to be English majors--they aren't. Get over it. They are going to
>> read, however, and so do need strategies to cope with all sorts of reading
>> materials, print and digital.
>> BTW, I'm finally finishing War and Peace and I have realized that in order to
>> read this book, like with Moby Dick (the big whaling book), you need to have
>> the kind of mind which processes both "efferently" (I vaguely remember the
>> term from a physiology course I once took) and aesthetically.
>> It's an amazing novel aesthetically but every world and European history
>> teacher needs to have read it as well for its insight into history, military
>> strategy, etc. 
>> Now this is fun!
>> Tom Kaun 
>> 
>> On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:57 AM, Stephen Krashen < skrashen at yahoo.com
>> <mailto:skrashen at yahoo.com> > wrote:
>>> A Significant Omission in the IRA Policy Paper: Access to Books for All
>>> Students 
>>> Stephen Krashen
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The International Reading Association policy paper, "Keeping Our Promise to
>>> All Students," talks about everything except books and reading. It includes
>>> recommendations for standards, assessment, instructional time, professional
>>> development, and of course the by now mandatory recommendation that we
>>> prepare students for the 21st century. The only mention of books is in
>>> passing: 
>>> 
>>> "Further supports for teachers to successfully increase student achievement
>>> include providing resources such as paraprofessionals, books, computers, and
>>> other literacy instructional tools" (p. 4).
>>> 
>>> Books, in other words, are simply one of several "instructional tools."
>>> 
>>> In view of the consistent finding that children of poverty have little
>>> access to reading material at home, in their communities and in school,
>>> shouldn't the International Reading Association strongly recommend that all
>>> children have access to reading materials, that school and public libraries
>>> be strengthened in high poverty areas? After all, what's the point of
>>> standards, assessment, instructional time, and professional development if
>>> students have little or nothing to read?
>>> 
>>> Without a strong and clear recommendation for adequate access to books, the
>>> policy paper does not keep its promise to all students.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> The IRA policy paper is available at:
>>> http://www.reading.org/publications/reading_today/samples/RTY-0812-policy.ht
>>> ml  
>>> <http://www.reading.org/publications/reading_today/samples/RTY-0812-policy.h
>>> tml> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> CALIBK12 site list
>>> CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu  <mailto:CALIBK12 at lists.sjsu.edu>
>>> http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/calibk12
>>> <http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/calibk12>
>>> 
>>> For information about the Calibk12 listserve, please
>>> visit   http://www.calibk12.net  <http://www.calibk12.net/> .
>>> 
>>> 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.sjsu.edu/pipermail/calibk12/attachments/20081217/3bdb0b05/attachment.html 